


Everywhere I am, there you'll be.

by Nicknack2814



Series: Fremione One Shots. [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fred Weasley Dies, Gen, Unplanned Pregnancy, time jumps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25591639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicknack2814/pseuds/Nicknack2814
Summary: Before the War, Hermione and Fred fell in love. After the Battle of Hogwarts, Hermione has to deal with Fred's untimely death and the little life that he left inside of her.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Fred Weasley
Series: Fremione One Shots. [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833520
Comments: 7
Kudos: 91





	Everywhere I am, there you'll be.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Faith Hill's song There You'll Be. Another transfer from fanfic.net. Massive time jumps and is one of only two fics I've ever written (and probably ever will) where Fred still dies. There are a small number of fictional character deaths that I just can't deal with, and Fred's is one of them. So I live in a state of perpetual denial when it comes to him, as he always still alive in my head. Except in this fic and one other - my personal AUs lol. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Hermione's world had just gone black. She could see him, lying on the stone cold floor, unmoving. Why was he unmoving? He was never unmoving...

People were screaming and there was shouting and the world had just ended but why hadn't it stopped? _Why hadn't it stopped?_ Harry shoved her out of the way, trying to get everyone moving before helping Percy pick Fred up and drag him somewhere out of the way so no more harm could come to him. No more harm. He was dead.

Hermione was stood frozen, pulled and pushed by those around her and unable to peel her eyes away from him. No more harm. He was dead. He was fucking _dead_. He'd fucking gone. He'd left her, he'd left George. He'd left them all. She screamed; a loud, harsh, bloodcurdling scream. Harry and Ron looked at her with wide and terrified eyes, but she was so angry and frustrated and scared and in so much pain. _So much pain._ Her heart was breaking and she didn't know what to do. They were in the middle of a fucking war and he'd just died on her!

A small fluttering, like butterflies, in her tummy snapped her back to the present. She locked away her anguish and compartmentalised it for later. There was a reason she'd never thought about the future, because first she had to make sure they had one. She bundled it all up to save for later, pulling the boys to safety and getting them to set their sights back on their mission.

...

Voldemort had called a cease fire. Why couldn't he have done that before? Then Fred might have made it. Hermione followed Ron to the Great Hall. Her eyes trailing over so many familiar faces, both alive and dead. Her breath stuck in her throat as she locked eyes with the man still breathing, the one who looked almost identical to his lifeless counterpart. Hermione couldn't bear the pain, almost seeing him but knowing it wasn't really him. That fate had really been that cruel. She could see every emotion she felt mirrored in George's eyes, his tears still falling freely. Mrs Weasley lay over her son's body weeping while George knelt at his brother's head.

"He's gone," George whispered, looking up at Hermione. "He's really fucking gone. He left us!"

Hermione couldn't do anything but collapse in his arms, sobbing into his shoulder as he sobbed into hers. She didn't care that so many people were giving her confused looks and bewildered glances at how broken up she appeared to be, as if she had more right than his own mother to be upset. But they didn't know. They didn't know her secret. Hell, _he_ hadn't even known her secret and now he never would. But she had to get through tonight, there was no point thinking of the future until she was sure they had one.

...

The fight was over. They had a future. She couldn't help but feel as though her's was gone. His arms weren't waiting. His smile wasn't there. There was no excited, victorious, triumphant kiss. She found herself gravitating towards George, the man who looked as lost as she did.

"He's still gone," George whispered.

"If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to hate me?" Hermione whispered back.

"Yes..." he answered tentatively.

"Will you keep it secret? At least for now?"

"Yes..."

"You promise?"

"Hermione? What's this about?" George sounded a little cross, his brother was still dead. "You can't bring him back. He's still gone..."

"Not all of him," Hermione whispered, looking desperately into George's eyes before putting her hand protectively over her stomach. His eyes widened and he gasped, pulling her into him and wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"Hermione..." he sobbed openly again. "Did he know?"

"No," she choked out. "I never got chance to tell him." Her feet gave out from under her and she fell into a crumpled mess with George on the floor. People looked at them strangely, trying to work out why Hermione Granger, of all people, seemed so devastated at the loss of a Weasley twin. Of course she should have been upset, she was practically family, but as upset as his mother? His twin brother? Wasn't that going a bit too far?

...

The funeral was a week after the battle. Hermione hadn't told anyone about the tiny life inside of her, the little Fred growing in her stomach. She didn't think it was fair till after the funeral, after he'd been laid to rest. Molly and Arthur were too wrapped up in their own devastation to really notice the way Hermione and George clung to each other, no one in their family did.

Hermione thought of Fred as she gripped tightly to George, not paying a great deal of attention to the service itself. She remembered the stupid smiles he used to flash at her when he could see she was upset, or stressed or struggling, and that was before they were anything more than friends. She remembered the times he'd made her stronger, the times he'd spurned her on and reignited the flames within her.

She cried openly, tears pouring down her face as she recalled their first kiss and how soft and sweet and full of hope it was. She thought back to the first time he'd told her he loved her and then subsequently had to prove it because she didn't believe him. She couldn't see how such a smart, innovative, funny man could see her as anything but plain and boring. She remembered how he'd kissed her in an attempt to show her how he felt, she remembered the way her heart had pounded and her blood had boiled with his passion as she'd actually felt it, it was unlike any other kiss he'd given her.

She remembered the night they'd accidentally conceived what would have been their shared future but now was her's alone. The way he touched her and held her and looked at her as though she were made out of the stars in heaven. She thought about how grateful she was to have had that, and what it created. She knew she'd never get over him, that she was now fated to live her life alone. She cared because he was gone, she didn't care that she'd never have another, because another wasn't him. He was her everything and it didn't matter that they'd had almost no time at all, she knew it like she knew the sky was blue and grass was green.

As they lowered his coffin into the ground she looked to the sky. She promised that she'd never forget him, the real him. She'd never forget the goofy grin he had when he was up to something, she'd never forget the genius he could be and the amazingly kind person he was. She'd remember him flying through the air on his broom, hunched over discussing new ideas with George or doing something insanely stupid or ridiculous to make her smile. She'd never let that go, she'd never let who he was leave her despite letting him rest. In her dreams she'd always see him soar above the sky, she promised.

...

Several days later, holding George's hand, Hermione stepped into the Burrow with the intention of having possibly the hardest conversation she'd ever had to have.

"Hermione dear," Molly Weasley flustered, her face still red and her tears still on the brink of spilling. "How are you?"

Hermione let out a wobbly breath as she looked at the grandmother of her unborn child. Molly was barely holding it together, as could be expected. Hermione felt like she was falling apart from the inside out, like there was a huge gaping hole inside of her. She could see her pain mirrored in Molly, different but still almost as heavy.

"Mrs Weasley..." Hermione faltered, raising her eyes heavenward as they filled with a hundred unshed tears.

"Hermione, sweetheart, whatever is the matter?" Molly asked, her own voice faltering.

"I...I miss him..." Hermione sobbed, her eyes coming to rest on Molly's. She couldn't say anything else. The words just seemed to tumble from her lips. "I miss him so much..."

"Who?" Molly whispered, confused at the level of emotion she could see within the girl. She couldn't understand why Hermione would want to talk to her about a loss that devastating to her after Molly had only just lost her son...unless?

"Fred, I miss Fred," Hermione sniffled. Tears poured out of her eyes and down her cheeks, her legs felt weak and the intense pain that burnt within her heart swept across her body like fire. It always did that whenever she thought about Fred.

"Come on Mione," George mumbled, "we need to get you sat down. This isn't good for you, or...you know..."

Hermione simply nodded, leaning into George as he slipped his arms around her gently, slowly leading her into the kitchen and towards a seat at the table. Molly simply followed in dumbfounded silence.

"I'll make some tea," she said softly, turning towards the kettle.

"I'll do that mum," George said. "Please could you go and get dad? There's something you both need to know."

"Yes, of course," Molly said, stealing a glance at the woman sat at the table. Hermione's eyes had glazed over and she sat silently, barely functioning if Molly had to guess.

Ten minutes later, both Molly and Arthur were seated at the table with Hermione and George. Four steaming mugs of tea were sat in front of each of them, no one really feeling like drinking it but all of them rested their eyes intently on it.

"Hermione?" George murmured, nudging her softly.

"Hm?" Hermione looked up at him and he gave her an encouraging look. "Oh right, yes..." She cleared her throat and glanced up at Molly and Arthur. "Uh...there's something I have to tell you, and I don't quite know how to say it..." Hermione's eyes were glistening again, and her voice cracked. She let out a wobbly breath as she tried to compose herself.

"You and Fred?" Molly asked, looking across the table at the distraught young woman. Hermione simply nodded. "You were in love?" Hermione nodded again.

"He was...he...I..." she stumbled over the right words to say, the right words to convey how much more he was to her. "The love of my life..." she shrugged as tears began making more tracks down her face.

"Hermione, I understand the pain you feel," Arthur said softly, "I'm just a little unsure why you're telling us this? I don't quite get why you'd come to us with this right now?"

"I'm pregnant," she said, practically blurting it out. She closed her eyes and folded her arms on the table, her head falling forwards as she sobbed heavily.

Molly looked aghast at George, Arthur simply staring at Hermione, stunned.

"How long have you known?" Molly whispered to George.

"Since the final battle came to a close and we'd won the war," George said quietly.

"Did...did Fred know?" Molly asked, her heart breaking all over again.

George merely shook his head, sniffing back his own tears.

"How far along are you?" Molly spoke up, looking at Hermione and waiting for the young woman to raise her head.

Hermione wiped her face as she lifted her eyes to look at Molly. "Four and a half months..."

"Four and a...four and a half months!" Molly's eyes were wide as she looked at Hermione. "Why didn't you tell him?!"

"Because...this baby...it was a future. A future I didn't even know if we'd have until we'd won the war..." Hermione said forlornly. "Because I knew once Fred knew, that he'd never let me out of his sight and he'd never let me fight..."

"He might also still be alive," Molly said. There was no malice in her voice, but no comfort there either. It just was.

"Mum," George sighed, giving her a reprimanding look.

"He had the right to know," Molly said.

"He did," Hermione agreed. "But I never thought...I never thought...I knew we might not make it out of that battle alive but I never thought..." she collapsed again into tears, huge wracking sobs overtaking her body. George pulled her towards him and enveloped her into a hug, soothing her and rubbing a hand up and down her back.

"You never thought just one of you would survive," Arthur finished with a nod. "You thought you'd both live or you'd both die..."

"What are you going to do with the baby?" Molly asked.

Hermione looked up quickly, frowning as she wiped her eyes again. "Raise it, of course."

"You're only eighteen," Molly pointed out.

"I don't care," Hermione said with feeling. "It's my baby. It's Fred's baby. Like hell I'll ever give that up, it's the last real thing I've got left of him."

Molly looked at Hermione, contemplating the fierce devotion the girl still seemed to have towards her son. She sighed. In a few years time, the blow wouldn't be so bad and Hermione could move on. She could love again and her dead son's child could be raised by another man, never knowing or missing their father. Molly felt the loss of her boy so much more intently then.

"Who else knows?" Molly asked.

"Just you two and George," Hermione said.

"Who else _will_ know?" Molly said, staring intently at her.

"What do you mean?" Hermione's frown deepened.

"Who else will know that your child is Fred's?" Molly said.

" _Everyone_ ," Hermione said, confused at Molly's tone. She wasn't expecting a great reaction but she wasn't expecting such hostility either. "Mrs Weasley, I love your son. Just because Fred is gone...I can't just switch that off. Regardless of what happened to him, this child was conceived in love. I can't...I'm so..." Hermione let out an angry, frustrated little huff. "I'm hurt. I'm furious. I'm terrified. I'm in so much pain I don't understand how my body is still moving, let alone growing a child. There was no victory for me, the whole fucking war was lost. The whole world was lost the minute I lost Fred. I'm so bloody angry with him. He died on me! He just...he just went! And what? He's never coming back? No goodbye? No apologies? No nothing? Just some strange future without him in it? What even is that?!" Hermione raged as tears continued to fall down her face. "He knows I'm not a woman who can cope without closure. He knows I hate it when I lose control of a situation. He _knows_! How am I supposed to raise a baby all by myself?! How am I supposed to do anything other than that?! I'm so bloody scared and the only person who can make it all better...is gone..." Hermione cried into her hands. "I love him so much...but all the love in the world isn't enough to bring him back to me..."

"Hermione..." Molly sighed at the girl and stood slowly. She came and wrapped her arms around the woman her son had obviously fallen in love with. If Fred hadn't fallen in love with the bookworm, George wouldn't have been so close and protective of her. "It's going to be alright, you'll see..."

Molly held her as she cried, feeling her own tears start up again. The two women sat together, unable to let go and unable to pull themselves together. Molly was sure this wasn't the end for Hermione, but no one ever wants to hear that after they've lost someone so profound from their lives. The best Molly could do was make the most of it. She was going to be a grandmother, she was going to get a small piece of Fred back and that was good enough for her, for now.

* * *

* * *

**Ten years later...**

Hermione sat in the beautiful sunshine, her hands folded in her lap. She looked at the light grey headstone in front of her, reading the name of the man who'd left her behind so long ago.

"Harry keeps telling me I need to get over you," she chuckled, shaking her head. "I told him to get screwed."

She sighed as she paused in thought, knowing what his reaction would probably be. _That a girl._

And then she shook her head because she knew, really, that would not be Fred's reaction.

_He's right, Hermione._

"No, he's not," she said softly.

_What you gonna do bird? Be alone and miserable the rest of your life?_

"I'm not alone! I have Matthew and Maevy!" she mumbled, aware that she was essentially talking to herself.

She'd had twins. Her and Fred had twins. The arsehole had the decency to die on her after putting not one, but two babies in her. He was going to get it both barrels when she found him in the afterlife. The twins were now nine years old, currently at a muggle primary school and looking forward to the day they received their Hogwarts letters.

Hermione had never found another man. She'd devoted her life to her children and she couldn't be happier. She missed _Fred_. Not companionship, not love, not being with someone, just Fred. And no one else was going to be Fred. She told her children all about their father and the amazing man he was. She told them stories about the ludicrous things he would do in school, of the charming nature he had, of the genius he was. They had six Uncles, they didn't need a replacement father and Hermione didn't need a relationship where she had to constantly pretend like she'd put Fred behind her, because she hadn't and she never would.

_Even mum has told you to move on_.

Molly had cornered Hermione about a year ago and had a little heart to heart with her. She'd apologised for the way she'd reacted to the news of Hermione's pregnancy, she'd told her that she never expected her to remain alone the whole of her life. That Fred would want her to move on and be happy. Everyone was always so quick to tell her that.

_Everyone is right._

"How am I supposed to let go and move on Fred? I have two mini-yous living under the same roof..." she sighed, looking at the name on the gravestone again and sniffing. "And it still hurts. All these years later. It still hurts like it was yesterday."

"Hermione?" A familiar voice broke her one sided conversation. A familiar voice attached to the face that was most similar to the dead man she was talking to.

"Hey George," Hermione said, giving him a soft smile.

"What you doing up here?" he asked.

"What are you doing up here?" she countered.

George chuckled softly as he sat down beside her. "I like to come up here sometimes, talk to him about my latest ideas and inventions."

"I like to come up here sometimes and talk to him about the kids," Hermione said. "And about how everyone insists I should move on and find someone else."

"You know what he'd say to that?" George said gently.

"Yeah..." she nodded.

_Just be happy, Hermione. You've got so much love to give, don't waste it all pining after me._

"Any reason why you won't listen to what he would say?" George asked.

"Because he never listened to me?" Hermione said. George laughed loudly beside her. "Because," she sighed, "everyone seems to think it's because I can't let go and say goodbye to him. That I'm holding onto him and it's making me miserable...do I seem miserable to you George?"

George sat and looked at her, thinking seriously. "No, you don't."

"I'm happy, I'm so happy..." Hermione said. "This isn't about moving on or forward or getting over him. I know we only had a second together in the grand scheme of things, but it was enough to know that no one else will ever compete with that. How can I ask someone to try?" She shook her head and looked back at him. "I've not shut my heart off from every possible suitor like you all think I have. If there's a love out there that I'm supposed to have, if there's a man out there I'm supposed to be with, I'm ready for it. But I won't go looking for it. I don't want to."

"But Hermione..." George stopped himself as he felt her hand squeeze his knee gently.

"Georgie, why does everyone seem to think I need a man to make me happy?" Hermione asked with a smirk. "Why is everyone intent on seeing me in a relationship?"

"We just don't want you to be alone," he said.

"I'm not alone. I am on my own, and I'm happy that way," Hermione said.

"But Hermione-"

"You know what he'd say to you right now?" She grinned.

"Yeah..." George nodded with a sigh and a chuckle.

_That witch is too bloody stubborn to argue with. If she's made her mind up, there ain't no way anyone is going to change it._

"How's Angie and the kids?" Hermione asked.

"They're all good," George said. "They're the best thing that ever happened to me." He grinned at her and nudged her playfully. "Thanks..."

"No problem," Hermione grinned back. "Setting you two up was the easiest decision I ever made."

"Easier than falling for Fred?" George asked.

"That wasn't a decision, it just happened. Before I knew it the prat was the most important thing to me and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it!" she huffed playfully.

_There wasn't a damn thing you wanted to do about it._

"There wasn't a damn thing you wanted to do about it," George said as Hermione heard Fred's words echo in her ears.

"No, there wasn't," she said.

"D'you remember when everyone thought we should get together?" he asked. Hermione began giggling as she nodded. "That's what made you set me and Angie up, isn't it?"

"Of course it is," she smiled. "I love you Georgie, but falling in love with you?" She shook her head and looked at him. "You were too similar to Fred and yet too different at the same time."

"I get that," he said. "I knew that would be the case long before my family started thinking about the two of us. It's why I tried to keep myself in check."

"What?" Hermione frowned, looking at George's guilty face and warm cheeks.

"It would have been so easy to fall in love with you Hermione," he smiled softly. "I knew exactly how and why Fred fell so far."

"George-"

"I couldn't do that to you," he said, his eyes meeting hers, shining blue to deep brown. "I knew you'd feel the way you do about us. I was the closest person you had to Fred without wanting to be Fred. I couldn't complicate that, I couldn't make you feel guilty for not feeling a certain way. It was only fleeting, in the grand scheme of things. I have to say, I've never envied my twin brother more though, not in those few moments..."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Hermione frowned.

"Never saw the need to," George shrugged.

"Why are you saying something now?" Hermione asked.

"Dunno really," he said. "I think, hearing you say the thing I always knew to be true, I suppose it just set it free a bit."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"What for?" He frowned.

"For squashing whatever feelings you had for me and falling for Angie instead," she said. "I don't know what I'd have done, if you'd changed the game on me..."

"I know, that's why I didn't," he said. "Especially not after my dear brother Freddie had already changed the game on you so spectacularly."

"He certainly did do that," she chuckled, smiling at the memory of an irate Fred, furious that she wouldn't believe he loved her after everything he'd done to prove it. Fred's idea of proving it was pranking her.

"I still remember the time he came back to the dorm, after your first kiss," George grinned. "Merlin he was so wound up I thought he'd make an excellent spinning top if only I could just pat him on the head."

Hermione laughed, thinking back to that night. She been patrolling and caught the idiot wandering the halls, arms full of food he'd stolen from the kitchens. She remembered how he'd pouted and made some comment about 'being stupid enough to give Harry that bloody map'. She'd laughed at his adorable little huff, smiling at how he didn't even question the idea that she'd punish him for being out of the tower so late despite being quite good friends by that point. He merely shrugged and asked her what it was going to be. She remembered the way his eyes went wide and his smile flickered from something sweet to something sinful as she told him she wasn't going to do anything. He'd walked right up to her then, murmured his thanks and gave her a soft, lingering kiss on the lips. Hermione had squeaked out her surprise but before she could get her head around what had happened, much less ask him what the hell he was playing at, he was gone.

"I don't think I've ever heard that story from your point of view George," Hermione smirked, the two of them flicking their eyes back to the gravestone mischievously as they heard _don't you dare_ echo in their ears.

"He was practically bouncing," George sniggered. "Couldn't sleep at all. He called it the best kiss of his life, up until the one he had to give you to make you realise he wasn't playing with you."

"That was his own fault," Hermione laughed.

"It was," George agreed. "But from that first kiss, it was like you'd thrown fuel on a fire he was desperately trying to put out. And then there was no stopping him."

"We were all supposed to be friends by that point, I didn't even think he could see me the way he did," Hermione sighed. "And then he pranked me, badly."

"It was supposed to really sweet," George laughed. "I tried to tell him it was awful but he wouldn't listen to me."

Hermione smiled, thinking back to the horrendous things Fred had done to her that day. He'd made her hair stick out and frizz up worse than usual, he'd turned her skin orange, he'd made all her teeth fall out, brought her out in boils and inflated random parts of her body. Hermione very nearly killed him. And then he'd had the audacity to say that no matter what she looked like he would always love her, because he was hopelessly in love with her. That led to Hermione becoming not just angry but incredibly hurt and upset, which sent her stomping off down the corridor in tears while Fred sped after her wandering what the hell he'd done wrong.

"Well, after he made me cry, it didn't take him long to realise he should have listened to his brother," Hermione chuckled.

"He was such an idiot, he was so in love with you he just stopped hearing any and all reason," George smiled.

"Merlin I still remember that kiss," she sighed. She smiled, thinking back to the way he'd grabbed her, spun her round and kissed her senseless. She still remembered the way she tingled all the way down to her toes, the taste of his tongue as it swept through her mouth, the way his lips moved and his hands wrapped themselves around her as though she were the last thing left on earth. She remembered the way she felt his love burn inside of her, the way she felt his passion and pure adoration, the way her heart swelled as she realised he wasn't joking, he did love her. She also remembered how funny he looked when his whole face fell after she told him she loved him too. If that day had been different, if at least one person had seen them, it wouldn't have been a secret and he may not have died.

They'd chosen not to tell anyone, well, anyone but George. They didn't want their relationship to put either of them in danger. With Hermione being such a close friend of Harry's and Fred being a Weasley and out-and-out blood traitor, they felt it was best not to push their luck. And then when Hermione went on the run, it made even more sense. There was no question about it, if Voldemort or the Death Eaters had known the pair were involved, Fred would have been captured and probably killed long before the final battle. Hermione couldn't help scoff to herself, feeling as though hiding it hadn't made all that much difference.

_Of course it did. He couldn't use me to hurt you or manipulate you._

"I'm sorry Mione," George sighed. "I'm still so sorry that you lost him. That we lost him. It still isn't fair."

"No, it's not," she said.

"You promise me, truly promise me, that you're not living a half-life, pining after Freddie?" George said.

"I promise," Hermione grinned. "I can't help that I still love him. It's not a question of moving on. I'm not in denial. I know he's never coming back. I know he'd want me to be happy even if that meant being with someone else but...I don't know...I can't explain it George." She shrugged and looked back at him. "He was Fred, and I know that no one else will ever be Fred. But I've never met anyone that's made me okay with that. I've never met anyone who I've wanted to love the way I loved Fred, and I don't think I ever will."

"Fair enough," George said. "So long as you're open to it if it comes along, that's good enough for me."

"I'd never choose to be miserable just because I lost Fred, but I can't choose to find another man for the sake of keeping up appearances. I never needed a man to make me happy even after I fell in love with Fred. I don't need one now he's gone."

"Yeah, I believe he told me about that particular argument," George chuckled.

"He shouldn't have called my bluff," Hermione smirked.

Not long before she'd taken off with Harry and Ron, Fred had tried to talk her into staying. He was so worried and scared that something might happen to her that he gave her an ultimatum; him or the hunt she was leaving for. Hermione, being who she was, told him not to be so ridiculous. She said he was grasping at straws and that was low even for him. She didn't need a man to make her happy and if he loved her the way he said he did, the way she _knew_ he did, he also knew that she had to go. She still remembered the way he sighed in defeat and told her it was worth a try.

"Stupid man..." she mumbled. "It wasn't me we should have been worried about."

_It's always you I worry about_.

"I don't think anyone could have predicted what happened," George sighed. "Life's a bitch sometimes and shit happens. It's not fair and we move on. That's all we can do."

Hermione simply nodded, leaning back against the grass as she looked at the headstone in front of her again. George stayed for a little while longer, the two sitting in comfortable silence, before he bid her goodbye and left.

Hermione sighed, tears stinging her eyes as she wished and hoped for time to change. For the name to warp and wobble and be someone else's.

"Let you go..." she whispered. "They all tell me I should let you go. As though I'm keeping you with me against your will. Against my own will."

She shook her head as tears slid down her face, slowly but surely and with such familiarity she didn't even bother to wipe them away. Her breath caught as she sobbed quietly.

"Fred, you're a part of me. It's not as simple as letting you go." She sighed deeply, sniffing as she looked to the heavens. "Merlin, if it was that easy I'd have done it years ago..."

_No you wouldn't've._

"No, I wouldn't've," Hermione mumbled, a choked chuckle struggling past her lips.

_You're too bloody stubborn_.

She was. She knew it. She didn't care. Her heart still ached with the loss of him and she couldn't bear the thought of filling it with someone else. Her life was good and happy, her children were the light she thought she'd lost. She didn't need anything else, she didn't need any _one_ else.

"I still love you Fred, I'll always love you," Hermione whispered. "And I'll always dream of us, of what it would have been like with you beside me. Of the father you'd have been, of the husband you'd have made..." she stifled another sob. "God Fred, I've missed you so bloody much." Her head dropped softly forward as she cried.

All the times she needed him and he couldn't be there. Telling his parents she was pregnant. Finding out she was having twins. Going through the birth and labour...all she wanted was his hand to hold and she couldn't have it. Looking into the eyes of their children for the first time, smiling sleepily at them and wishing he was right beside her looking at them too. Picking names. The sleepless nights and restless days. The absence of his presence. The first time her babies said 'dada' and not being able to attach the sound to him. The screaming and crying and exhausting tantrums with no one to back her up, not the way he could have. The empty space beside her while she slept. The need to feel his arms around her, to snuggle into his chest and breathe in the smell of him. She hugged her arms around herself as she broke apart. It _never_ got easier, she just got better at hiding it for longer periods of time.

_I hate it when you cry._

Hermione breathed out shakily, sniffing and forcing herself to calm down. She looked back up at the gravestone, at the name engraved upon it. Fredrick Gideon Weasley. Her heart hurt and her soul ached but right now there was nothing she could do about that. Her children needed her, they needed her to be sane and stable and so she would be. For them. For Fred. For her. But every now and then, she just needed a few minutes by his side to weep at the injustice she still felt, the anger that still coursed through her veins and the absolute bitter sadness that filled her heart.

She dried her eyes and stood up, forcing her feet to move and meet back up with the real world. The world in which he stopped existing, the world in which she was okay because she had to be and that was just the way things were.

* * *

* * *

**A very long time later...**

Hermione opened her eyes and smiled. She was lying in a patch of grass not too far from the Burrow, just a little way beyond the lake. The last thing she remembered was closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep, aged one hundred and twenty four years old. She knew it was time, time for her to go. She felt it that day, it seemed like it was almost the best day of her life. Everything was that little bit clearer and brighter, she saw her children and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. There was something in the air, something she could almost see and feel. As she said goodbye to those she loved dearly, she couldn't help but sigh in relief at the same time. Finally, it was her turn to go.

Despite what had happened to Fred all those years ago, and despite the fact that she'd never found love again in the arms of another, Hermione wasn't in a rush to leave. She loved her children far more than her want to see Fred again, and she loved her family too much to wish time away. She knew she'd get to him eventually. She never stopped wishing Fred had been more a part of that time she'd had with them, but that was the way things had gone. Hermione wasn't the first to leave, it turned out she was actually the last. All the Weasley's had gone before her, and Harry went a month or two ago. For the first time in her life, she'd just started to feel lonely and that was when she knew that it was time and she was tired. She would miss her children but one day, they'd be together again and they were all happy and healthy and content in their own lives.

She stirred in the grass and sat up, noticing that her body was no longer that of an old woman's but more like it had been when she was in her teens. She breathed in the air around her, smelling the plants and trees and flowers on the wind. She felt giddy, there was lightness in her that had been lost to her since the final battle. As the place began to come into focus a little more, Hermione could hear voices not too far away. Familiar voices but voices she hadn't heard in a while. Laughter too. Everyone was outside in the garden, enjoying the sunshine. She could hear Harry's chuckle, Ginny giggling beside him. She heard George barking with laughter as Charlie told them all a funny story from his dragon-keeping days.

Hermione got to her feet and began to wander idly towards them. She was in no rush and neither were they, they had forever now, all of them. Sirius Black's voice joined the mix, and Remus Lupin's. She heard Angelina and Tonks, Molly and Arthur, Percy, and a few voices she didn't recognise too. As she neared the garden, one or two people began to spot her and smiled warmly at her. Their missing friend finally returned to them. Hermione smiled back, walking lazily up the path to greet them.

And then she saw him.

Her simple, slow, nonchalant steps suddenly forgotten, she flew through the garden as fast as her feet could carry her. Their eyes finding each other at the exact same moment. Fred was faster than a jack rabbit, on his feet and across the small expanse before anyone really knew what was happening.

"Fred..." Hermione mumbled into his shoulder as she crashed into him and threw her arms around him.

"Oh gods Hermione, I've waited so long for this..." he mumbled back, his arms so tight around her she wasn't sure he'd ever let her go. She didn't want him to.

Tears sprung to her eyes and fell down over her cheeks, but she didn't care. She was home. For the first time since the final battle, that feeling of anxiety and dread she'd been carrying with her, that feeling that just never left because the relief of seeing Fred alive never came, seemed to lift and float away. She felt her heart swell, she felt free again.

"I missed you so much," she sobbed, "I missed you so much, every damn day...I just...Merlin I love you Fred..."

"I missed you too," Fred murmured, pulling himself back slightly but his arms never leaving her body. He just wanted to look into those eyes again. He'd have given anything since he died, just to see those eyes one more time. "I'm so sorry..." he whispered.

Hermione continued to cry, stepping up on tiptoes and planting a soppy, wet kiss on his lips. "And so you bloody well should be," she growled.

Fred chuckled, kissing her again fiercely, feeling as though he truly was in heaven now. She was always the one thing he was missing.

"I'm serious Fred!" she huffed, stamping her foot and stepping back from him. "You have no idea how angry I am that you went and died on me!"

"Oh I think I do," he smiled. "I heard every word you said."

"Oh you did, did you?" Hermione snapped.

"Yes, I did," he said, clearing his throat and mimicking Hermione quite well. " _I can't believe he left me to deal with all this alone! The audacity he had to fucking die on me! I don't care that he couldn't help it, selfish arsehole, couldn't just wait for me, could he? Just left. No goodbyes, no apologies, what even is that_?" He looked at Hermione with raised eyebrows.

"I stand by everything I said," she shrugged.

"Of course you do, like you'd ever admit you're wrong," he scoffed.

The rest of their friends and family were now stood around looking a little shocked at the exchange currently going on before them. The reunion started the way they expected it to, it didn't seem to be ending the way they thought it would though.

"You left me pregnant-"

"I never knew you were pregnant! You never told me!"

"-and I had to raise two children all alone-"

"Again, not my fault!"

"Because you couldn't dodge a falling bloody wall!"

"Well I'm much quicker in the afterlife, if that makes it better?" Fred said with added snark.

"No! That does not make it better! How would that make it better?!" Hermione screeched. "You bloody wanker! You total arsehole! Merlin you're the most infuriating man I've ever met!"

"Oh calm your tits Granger, it all worked out in the end," he grinned, earning him a frustrated slap on the arm from the furious bookworm.

"That is not the point," Hermione said, glaring at him. "I won't ever forgive you for it."

"I wouldn't forgive me either," he said, smiling softly at her and tugging her back into another hug.

"This isn't over Fred, I'm still mad at you for dying," she huffed, snuggling into him further still.

"Of course you are," he said.

"Don't patronise me."

"I wouldn't dream of it love."

"I mean it Fred..."

The group around them were now trying to hold back their smirks and smiles at the couple who looked like they hadn't been apart two minutes and yet had been apart for a whole lifetime. Fred pulled back a little, pressing a light kiss on Hermione's cheek and sliding his hands down her arms to link his fingers with hers.

"Fancy going for a walk?" he asked.

Hermione nodded, smiling at the knowing crowd as her and Fred walked back out the garden and towards the lake.

"Did...did you hear all the other stuff too?" Hermione asked as they reached the little spot they used to frequent, back when times were easy and they were still alive and in love.

"I heard it all Hermione..." Fred said, his voice breaking. She looked up at him in shock, her eyes wide at the raw pain and emotion she could see etched upon his face.

"Fred..." she murmured, reaching out to run her fingers along his cheek and rest her hand on his face.

"I'd have given anything, _anything_ , Hermione, to have gone back and been with you," he whispered. "To hear you cry and not be able to do anything...to see you so upset and alone and afraid, only being able to watch..." he petered off, looking into her eyes as his own tears descended.

"I don't blame _you_ Freddie," she whispered. "I'm mad as hell that you died but you know I don't really, truly, blame you..."

"I know," he said, sniffing as he tried to pull himself together. "But watching you live without me...gods that hurt."

"I never really lived without you," she said softly.

"I know, that's what hurt," he croaked out a chuckle. "Knowing you never really could. I wanted you to find someone so badly, and yet I just _knew_ you wouldn't. It was always you and me, and Merlin I hated how unfair it was that you lost out on life just as much as I did, all because my heart stopped beating and yours didn't."

"I'm sorry I never told you about the kids," Hermione said.

"You have no idea how infuriated I was to learn about that once I'd died," he reprimanded her softly.

"I know," she murmured. "I'm so sorry Fred. I'm so so sorry. You might have lived if I'd told you, and you would have been the best father..." she broke a little as that same, unjust pain (tinged with a little bit of guilt) pulsed inside of her.

"Hermione I'm not angry for me," Fred said. "Well, not anymore. I'm angry because you had to carry that all alone for so long. I'm angry because I couldn't be there for you, I couldn't help, I couldn't wipe your tears away or lessen the load. I couldn't hold your hand..."

Hermione slipped her hands around his waist and leant into him, sighing as his arms came to rest across her shoulders. She gripped him tighter as she thought about all the times he'd probably watched her, heard her, seen her struggle and the absolute helplessness that overcame him. She thought about how selfish she was to keep something so big and real and important from him, and how it could have ended so differently had she not made rash and stupid decisions. She still remembered how right those decisions felt back then, all the way up until his untimely death. Once it was too late, then she knew it was the wrong choice she'd made.

"I'm so sorry Fred, I was so wrong..." she mumbled into his chest with a sob.

"Wow, Hermione Granger admitting she's wrong, I'll take that," he chuckled, the crack in his voice still apparent. "How about we call it even?"

"Huh?" Hermione sniffed as she pulled away to look at him.

"I died, you didn't tell me you were pregnant...I'd say we're even..." he said, his voice a little tired and heavy as he spoke.

"If I had told you, our lives could have been so different," she whispered, looking up at him in remorse.

"So why didn't you?" he said. "And don't give me any of those crappy half-truths you gave mum and dad."

"I didn't tell you, because I knew you'd have wanted me to stop fighting," her voice trembled as she spoke, "and I knew you'd never have asked me to, not after asking me to stay. And I knew...I knew that if you'd known...I'd have wanted to stop fighting too and...and I had to fight...I just had to. I needed to."

Fred kissed her softly, wiping away her fallen tears and hugging her to him. "I know."

"You do?" she sniffed.

"Yeah, I do. You just needed to say it," he said. "Sometimes you just need to say things, admit things, before you can move on."

"What happens now?" she asked softly, timidly.

"We're in heaven, what d'you want to happen now?" He smiled, smoothing his thumbs across her cheekbones.

"Do the kids come here at the end of their lives too?" Hermione said.

"Yeah, they'll get here eventually," Fred said.

"I'm sorry you never got to know them. I'm sorry they never got to know you..." she sighed and shook her head, hating herself more in that moment than she ever had done before.

"I'll get to know them," he said, pulling her eyes back up to his. "We have all the time in the world up here. I suggest we make the most of it before our children get old and come to join us."

"Do you still want to be with me?" Hermione croaked. "I mean, I get if you'd rather not. Or you'd rather start again and take things slow-hmph!"

Hermione let out a muffled squeal of surprise as Fred pushed his lips onto hers. He wrapped an arms around her waist and gently gripped the back of her neck with his other hand. He kissed her like he'd kissed her that day in the corridor at school. He kissed her like he still loved her and so much more.


End file.
